


The Stars Don't Reach Back

by costumejail



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: California (Comics)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Gen, In a way, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Vamos (Fabulous Killjoys), Platonic Cuddling, vals trans also but it doesnt come up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28042323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/costumejail/pseuds/costumejail
Summary: When Val can't sleep, he goes for a walk. Vamos doesn't let him go alone.
Relationships: Val Velocity & Vamos & Vaya & Vinyl & Volume (Fabulous Killjoys), Val Velocity & Vamos (Fabulous Killjoys)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 12





	The Stars Don't Reach Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DoubleMastectomy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleMastectomy/gifts).



> This one is also building off a [headcanon I posted the other day.](https://sleevesareforlosers.tumblr.com/post/637268351362711552)

Vamos shivered. They rolled onto their back without opening their eyes, reaching for Val’s wrist to pull him closer. Their hand touched down on cold sheets.

Cracking open one eye, Vamos confirmed that Val was not, in fact, in bed anymore. They closed their eye and shivered again, pressing closer to Vaya on their other side while debating reaching far back to pull Vinyl’s arm around them. But then they blinked. 

Val wasn’t in bed anymore.

Vamos wormed down the mattress, careful not to disturb any of their other crewmates. Vaya snuffled a bit when Vamos stood, but xe didn’t wake, just looped xyr arm around Volume’s waist and pulled him closer.

Out from under the blankets, the night chill really hit Vamos. They stumbled around the dim room, collecting a sweater that must have been Vinyl’s, a worn blanket, shoving their feet into boots that they didn’t bother to lace up. They stared at the hooks holding five belts with holsters for a long moment before deciding that if Val didn’t have a gun, they didn’t need one either.

The door barely creaked as they eased it open and tiptoed out. For once, the Nest was near-silent, only the low sounds of two ‘joys playing a video game filtering through the walls. Vamos avoided them, though, taking the back door that opened out to the cliffs rather than walking through the TV room to the front door. 

The full moon set the desert glowing silver. Vamos scanned the sands, looking for the telltale white hair and jacket of their missing crewmate. He was standing at the edge of the cliff, silhouetted against the dark abyss at his feet. Val looked over his shoulder when the door snapped shut, far louder than it had any right being. 

Vamos raised the blanket they held. Val didn’t acknowledge them, but turned on his heel and set off around the rim of the canyon.

Vamos followed at a distance. 

They wrapped the blanket around themself, might as well get some use out of it. Val hugged the canyon’s edge for a while, occasionally stopping to kick rocks over the lip and listen to them sing, bouncing off the granite as they fell. Then he turned inland, following a starlit path that only he could see.

This was pretty standard for the self-proclaimed leader of the Ultra V’s — and the new rebellion. A few nights a moon cycle, sleep would evade him, leading Val out on a pilgrimage across the Zones with no more than his feet and his thoughts to occupy himself with. More often than not, though, one of the other V’s would keep him company, now that they’d figured out where Val went in the middle of the night.

It wasn’t company as Vamos thought of it. These moonlit walks were silent, still, save for the shifting sands beneath their feet. Not filled with laughter or talk like Vamos normally would bring with them. It had never even crossed their mind to try and talk to Val on nights like this. If he wanted to talk, he’d make it clear.

So when Val came to a stop next to a stack of boulders, Vamos didn’t say anything as they dropped to sit next to him. They offered Val the blanket again. First, he snorted derisively, but then accepted and wrapped the worn cloth around his shoulders. A small smile spread across Vamos’ face. They made sure to turn away before Val saw. The air bit at their fingers now that they weren’t moving, so Vamos pulled their hands into the sleeves of probably-Vinyl’s sweater and balled the extra fabric up.

They sat like this for a while, Vamos eventually leaning back to look at the stars. Not that they were overly visible with the moon hanging high in the sky, but they could still make out a fair number of constellations. Val didn’t make a sound, barely moved the whole time, then he seemed to tire of sitting and got back to his feet.

Vamos smothered a yawn as they followed Val away from the rocks, not heading back toward the canyon, but more or less aimed toward the Nest. Val’s pace varied now, not as steady or direct as he had been when leaving the Nest behind. Every few steps he looked back over his shoulder. Vamos couldn’t see his eyes in shadows cast by the moon, but they felt Val’s gaze like a physical weight and it stopped them in their tracks.

Vamos froze every time Val turned back, widening the chasm between them. They weren’t sure what about tonight had made him uncomfortable with the distance that they usually followed Val from, but pushing their luck was the last thing they wanted to do.

Finally, with more length than half the CrashTrack between them, Val turned around fully. The clear night air carried his voice well.

“Might as well walk with me.”

Vamos didn’t argue. They half-ran, half-stumbled to catch up with Val, of course, he hadn’t waited for them to catch up before setting off again. When Vamos fell into step next to Val, neither of them interrupted the silence. The sand crunched beneath their feet and the wind rustled their hair, but those were the only sounds as they moved through the desert together.

Val’s spine stiffened as the lights of the Nest grew closer. He drew his shoulders back, shrugging off the blanket and dropping it behind himself. Vamos caught it before it hit the ground, but only just. Unlike them, Val didn’t tiptoe into the building. He didn’t slam the door open and announce his presence with a curse and a knife-sharp warning, either. He just let himself in, and Vamos shut the door behind themself.

The two ‘joys that had been up when Vamos left seemed to have gone to sleep, for the Nest was fully silent. Val led Vamos down the hall to their room and eased the door open almost-gently. Again, Vamos shut the door behind themself, sending the room into a near-perfect blackness. A sliver of moonlight lay across the bed, lighting three bodies twisted together and breathing steadily. While Val kicked his boots off and dropped his jacket to the floor, Vamos gently stepped out of their shoes and decided that Vinyl wouldn’t mind if they borrowed his sweater a little longer. They lay down, wormed under Vinyl’s arm now that he was in the middle of the mattress, and shivered as the heat from his body began to radiate over them. 

Val lay down, too. Right on the edge of the mattress. But he didn’t complain when Vamos reached back to pulled his arm around their waist and he only tensed for a moment when they laced their fingers through his and squeezed.

“Y’gonna sleep now?”

If Val didn’t reply, Vamos didn’t plan on bugging him again.

“Maybe if you shut up, Wheels,” he mumbled.

“See you in the morning, tough guy.”

If Val tightened his arm around their midriff for a moment, they didn’t plan on mentioning it. If he pressed his forehead this the top of their spine and took a shuddery breath, they’d never bring it up. 

If he woke up the next morning with clear eyes and bedhead to rival Vaya’s, they’d only lightly tease him for needing to borrow their comb.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments/kudos are cool if you wanna leave them!


End file.
